'Foreigners fined for posing as Zimbabweans' October 19
2004 at 04:52PM

Harare - Zimbabwean police have arrested 26
campers, including 13 South Africans and an Australian citizen, at a
northern government-run campsite for failing to pay camping fees in a
foreign currency, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The
group, which had hoisted the South African and Australian flags at the site,
were briefly detained on Tuesday and freed after admitting guilt and paying
a fine of ZIM$25 000 (R28) each.

"Police picked up some 26 people.
Among the 26 were 13 South Africans, one Australian and 12 Zimbabweans,"
said police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka.

He said the 14
foreigners arrested at Chirundu border town, were charged with contravening
laws that make it mandatory for foreign tourists to pay in US dollars for
entry and use of national parks' campsites.

Members of this group,
however, masqueraded as Zimbabweans and paid ZIM$6 000 (R6,37) which is the
fee locals were charged.

The group's leader, a Zimbabwean, was
expected to appear in a local court on Tuesday for "misrepresenting the
facts to the parks officials" facing fraud charges.

"It was his
duty to indicate to the parks officials that there were some foreigners
among the group," said Mandipaka.

"What attracted our attention at
Chewora Camp in Chirundu was that they were flying South African and
Australian flags next to their tents. We sought to make some verification
and in the process it was discovered that they had not paid the appropriate
fee," said the police spokesperson.

He said the group arrived in
the country on Thursday last week and proceeded to the camp "allegedly for a
fishing tournament".

Chirundu is situated on the banks of the
Zambezi River on the border to Zambia, about 300 kilometres northwest of the
capital.

Fishing competitions for the country's most voracious
predator, the tiger fish, are often hold around this time of the year. -
Sapa-AFP

London: Refusing to take things lying down,
former Zimbabwe cricketer captain and middle-order batsman Stuart Carlisle
has termed the decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to clear
the Zimbabwe Cricket Union of accusations of racism as nothing but "a big
joke".

The ICC had inquired the ZCU after 15 white players were
wielded the axe for backing Heath Streak, who was stripped of the
captaincy.

"The fact you can categorically state there is no racism
in Zimbabwe cricket is a joke. I don't really know where we go from here. We
probably could still go to arbitration but there's almost no point in that,"
Carlisle was quoted as saying in The Guardian.

It may be
pertinent to mention that the ICC began its inquiry after former skipper
Heath Streak and the rebel players had questioned the ZCU's selection
policy.

But much to their dismay, a 73-page report prepared by
South African judge Steven Majiedt and India's solicitor general Goolam
Vahanvati have rejected the allegations.

Carlisle said they
were disappointed but not surprised at the ICC's decision.

"The
ICC has sat on the fence in the past few months and in the past few years on
other issues. They've swept the problem under the carpet. They think it's
going to go away but it won't," the paper quoted.

The acquittal of Zimbabwe's
opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, of charges of high treason opens a
window of opportunity for the South African government to follow up with
diplomatic pressure for more positive steps to enable the parliamentary
elections due early next year to be free and fair.

If ever there
were a chance for President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" to bear fruit,
this is it. But the window is narrow and won't remain open for
long.

Few observers of Zimbabwean affairs are in any doubt that the
judiciary has been politically compromised. A number of courageous
independent judges have been squeezed out and replaced by political
appointees, several of whom have been given prize commercial farms under the
land-grab programme. Such compromising of the principles of independence
inevitably invites the assumption that court judgments in Zimbabwe are
politically influenced. And so the question is being asked: Why was
Tsvangirai acquitted?

The case against him was so obviously
spurious, based on a crude plan by the government to entrap him so that he
could be put out of the way until after the elections - and perhaps for much
longer.

So why has he been allowed to go free? Here is my
analysis.

Last August at a regional summit meeting in Mauritius the
Zimbabwe government, under pressure from South Africa and other members of
the 13-nation Southern African Development Community, signed a new SADC
protocol setting out the principles and guidelines for free and fair
elections.

Nothing Zimbabwe has done over the past five years has
revealed any willingness to allow the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to engage in free political activities. The government has done
everything possible to bully, restrict, intimidate and disable the MDC. It
has shown a single-minded determination to retain power indefinitely despite
growing public disaffection with its policies. And the continent of Africa,
to its shame, has turned a blind eye to all this and continued to lionise
Mugabe as a great "liberator".

But with the SADC protocol now
in existence, and Zimbabwe's signature on it, the government could hardly
afford to be seen jailing the main opposition leader a few months before a
general election. Everyone in the regime must have understood that no-one,
not even their closest friends, was going to buy a conviction in this
patently trumped-up case.

The prosecution claimed Tsvangirai had
approached a Canadian "political consultant", Ari Ben Menashe, and in three
separate meetings asked him to arrange the assassination of Mugabe and to
carry out a coup to install himself as president.

But under
withering cross-examination by that doughty veteran of so many political and
human rights cases, George Bizos, the tawdry truth came out. The Mugabe
government had paid Menashe, a man of dubious background, a whopping $615
000 (about R4-million), ostensibly for "consultancy services" but in fact
for a sting operation to entrap Tsvangirai.

Menashe approached
Tsvangirai and offered to raise large sums of money in North America for the
cash-strapped MDC, which Tsvangirai accepted. Menashe then secretly
video-recorded the meetings, in which he claimed Tsvangirai made the
assassination requests. Tsvangirai strenuously denied this, saying it was
Menashe himself who repeatedly raised the question of "eliminating" Mugabe
to goad the MDC leader into incriminating statements.

In the end
the crux of the trail lay in the video recordings. When they were played to
the court it became clear to everyone that they failed completely to
substantiate Menashe's version of the discussions. Instead they
substantiated Tsvangirai's.

There simply was no case, a fact so
obvious to everyone who follows events in Zimbabwe that the ruling Zanu-PF
elite must have realised that had Tsvangirai been convicted and jailed ahead
of the election, SADC would have no choice but to declare the elections not
free and fair.

This Mugabe could not face. He may be quite willing,
even eager, to thumb his nose at criticisms from Britain, the United States
and the rest of th

e white Western world, but he cannot
risk being ruled out of order by his own African peers.

This is
what opens the window of opportunity for President Mbeki.

The
Tsvangirai judgment has done two things. It has relaxed the high level of
tension that has kept Zimbabwe in a state of political paralysis. Suddenly
the embattled MDC are feeling more hopeful, which makes the political
atmosphere in the country more amenable to negotiations.

It has
also started a positive momentum which makes it possible for Mbeki to
encourage Mugabe to follow through with more reforms to meet the
requirements of the SADC protocol, so ensuring that the elections are
validated and Zimbabwe can return to international
acceptability.

It will not be easy; Mbeki's task in the whole
Zimbabwe affair has never been easy. But this is his last best
chance.

He should try to persuade Mugabe to follow through on this
positive development by meeting with the MDC to negotiate agreement on
reforms that satisfy the requirements of the SADC protocol. The MDC has said
it will withdraw its decision to boycott the elections if that
happens.

Mugabe has met some of the SADC requirements, such as
using transparent ballot boxes which can't be stuffed, having voting take
place on a single day and not transferring the boxes overnight so
that no-one can tamper with them. But these are not enough. What
Zimbabwe needs are reforms to make free electioneering
possible.

Restrictions on the MDC's ability to hold meetings and
canvass in rural areas must be removed and police intimidation stopped. The
SADC protocol's insistence that there must be equal access to the
state-controlled media must be implemented, the independent Daily News
newspaper must be allowed to republish, and retrogressive amendments to
electoral procedures and institutions that the regime has already passed
must be revoked and reversed.

The first involves the Electoral
Commission. The SADC protocol specifies that this must be independent.
Mugabe has just had parliament pass a law creating an Electoral Commission
that he himself will appoint, and which will be subject to an existing
Electoral Supervisory Commission which his party already
controls.

A bill to regulate NGOs, which threatens to close a whole
series of vital organisations such as the Electoral Advisory Network which
is responsible for the independent supervision of all elections, should be
withdrawn. Other pending legislative amendments must be
stopped.

It will not be easy to persuade Mugabe to do this, but
Mbeki must try.

There is little time. If the mood of optimism in
the MDC is not sustained by the hope of more positive steps, it will quickly
fade and the political atmosphere will freeze over once more. The chance
will be lost.

The much-publicised national strike by teachers
yesterday failed to materialise as most teachers affiliated to the two major
teachers' unions reported for duty.

According to Raymond Majongwe,
the president of the radical Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
and Erison Huruba, the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association
(Zimta), teachers have agreed to continue working until both unions
negotiating with the government over working conditions and remuneration
packages for next year complete their task.

Majongwe said: "The situation
on the ground is that teachers have gone on strike. Teachers resolved that
they would not disrupt the school examinations that began on Monday for the
Grade Seven pupils. Teachers at their respective schools will be
invigilating because it is not our intention to use school
children.

"We are just calling on the government, the Public Service
Commission (PSC) and the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture to
appreciate that teachers have genuine concerns that need to be
addressed.

Majongwe said the unions would not seek in any way to disrupt
the examination process because ultimately, it would be the parents of
pupils who suffer most because they have paid large sums of money for the
examinations.

He said the PTUZ has written several letters raising
concern to both President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady, Grace Mugabe
requesting their intervention to save the country's education system but
their letters have remained unanswered.

Huruba said Zimta had laid
down principles which have been agreed upon by the employer.

"We are
looking forward to see the principles being implemented," Huruba said.
"Afterwards we would communicate the results to our members and advise on
their suitability of the remuneration package.

What we have done is
simply to communicate the ongoing negotiations with our
members.

"Like everyone, the teachers are angry and frustrated and
when people are frustrated and angry, they can do anything beyond our
control. As far as we know, our people have said we can continue to
negotiate for the packages for 2005 although there was a serious hitch with
the 2004 negotiations."

Teachers have been calling for a strike since the
government awarded hefty salary increases to most civil
servants.

Teachers feel strongly that their salaries are too low in the
face of rising cost of living and inflation.

Now that the treason trial has ended, may I take this
opportunity to thank you all for the unwavering support and conviction you
showed towards my family, myself and the MDC for a long two and half years
of constant vilification and political persecution.

The
prosecution and the charges were politically motivated. This was the second
time I have been through indicted for treason. As you are aware, I still
have another one pending.

I wish to thank our legal team for the
sterling work they put in this case - Advocate George Bizos, the team
leader, Senior Counsel Chris Andersen, Advocate Eric Matinenga, and Mr.
Innocent Chagonda. I am happy that the party, the MDC, remained focused and
determined to see this through. Our friends and supporters at home and
abroad merit special mention for all the messages of support and solidarity.
My family, in particular my wife, Susan and the children deserve
commendation for their patience and resilience during these trying
times.

As with all political trials, it was inconceivable that
one could look positively to this process and to the result with optimism.
Because of our experiences, we have serious reservations about the state of
our criminal justice system and the rule of law in Zimbabwe
today.

For the record, you will recall that on the eve of the
Presidential election in 2002, an unclear video recording was broadcast
showing a meeting between me and officials of an Ari-Ben Menashe-led
company, Dickens and Madison, in Montreal, Canada. You were told that there
was an audio tape with sufficient supporting evidence to corroborate the
existence of a criminal plot and explicit details of criminal behaviour on
part.

You will further recall that the broadcast was meant to
show me as requesting Dickens and Madison to assassinate Robert Mugabe, my
main opponent in that Presidential election. You are also aware that the
timing of the broadcast was particularly devastating for me, the MDC and the
people of Zimbabwe.

I said at the time that the broadcast,
which was repeatedly aired until the Election Day, was one of Mugabe's last
campaign cards in that election. A few weeks before, the generals from the
uniformed forces and CIO declared publicly that they were not prepared to
respect an electoral verdict that was against Robert Mugabe. A battery of
repressive legislation was imposed and several decrees were put in place,
including one that denied Zimbabweans abroad an opportunity to vote in that
election.

At the time Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede had
continued to register new voters secretly despite having officially closed
the process in January. Meanwhile thousands of people, including farm
workers, were displaced and disenfranchised. Violence was on the rise. I
only managed to address eight campaign rallies, out of the 90 that we
applied for. We were denied access to the voters roll. My party was denied
access to the supplementary voters roll.

Several parts of the
country were declared no-go areas for the MDC. Our rallies were either
cancelled or disrupted while hundreds of MDC activists were either killed,
displaced or severely brutalized. None of these desperate measures,
including the Ben-Menashe video clip, dampened the spirit for
change.

Mugabe then decided to interfere directly with the
process by setting up a command centre to receive voter returns. We were
denied access to this centre, which as you know was run by the military. The
number of polling stations in urban areas was drastically reduced. The
voting process was slowed down in these few stations.

Voters
were tear-gassed and dispersed at the few polling stations in Harare and
Chitungwiza. The result, as you all know is now history. The behaviour of
our opponents taught us a range of invaluable lessons, strengthened our
resolve to rid the nation of political thuggery and guided us towards the
new Zimbabwe we seek to build. We took an oath, for the sake of our future
generations, never to allow our nation and society to be dragged towards
another precipice simply because of political greed and
avarice.

Whatever happened at the time failed to satisfy Mugabe
and his regime. They realized that they had lost your hearts and minds.
Secretary General Welshman Ncube, Shadow Agriculture Minister Renson Gasela
and I were charged with treason soon afterwards. Our travel documents were
seized. We were slapped with restrictions on our movement and required to
report to the police twice a week. For almost two years, I would be forced
to live under conditions of virtual house arrest.

A marathon
trial followed, pinning all of us down to the High Court for a long time.
From the day the allegation was tendered to us, it was clear that this was a
political trial. Prof Ncube and Minister Gasela were later acquitted. The
state then amended the charge and I remained as the sole accused person in
this treason case.

The trial has now come to an end. Zimbabwe is
far worse off than at the time this debacle started to unfold. Any political
trial, indeed trials anchored on political intrigue, repressive legislation
and dishonesty hardly achieve a meaningful national
good.

There is new global thinking emphasizing respect for basic
rights, encouraging participation in governance and supporting national
healing. Zimbabwe needs to embrace this new culture in order to fit into the
spirit of the international community, raise the country's international
profile and empower its citizens through freedom.

I am
particularly saddened by the continued chaos in agriculture. Up to this
minute, the nation remains unsure as to the source and availability of fuel,
seed, agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. The regime is broke. The
regime has no friends. The regime refuses to take in ideas from the people
on the way forward.

Fiddling with time, chasing shadows and
imaginary enemies, surely does not put food on the table neither does it
create jobs for a nation with 85 percent unemployment. The uncertainty in
the farming sector, our economic mainstay and food security base, means
reduced food supply and even lesser employment for all of us in the new
year.

We must drop all the political experiments of the past five
years and get real. Zimbabwe needs a new start. Zimbabwe needs a new
beginning. We are ready to play our part depending on the seriousness of
those who pushed the nation to a cliff-edge and abandoned the people. We are
determined to rebuild; to start afresh. I am confident that together we can
recover as nation from bankruptcy and lawlessness. Through elections, and by
democratic means, we can easily retire the dictatorship and move
on.

Our members and supporters in the MDC are clear about the
ultimate objective. Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF never intended to address the
land imbalances inherited at independence in 1980. Their plan was to
displace and disenfranchise a farm-worker constituency which they assumed to
support the MDC. The on-going evictions in the former commercial farms show
that there was never a desire to deal with historical distortions in the
land ownership pattern in this country. Communal lands are still as
congested as they were in 2000. Our government, an MDC government, shall
reverse that negative trend.

Seed is being diverted to the
more favourable export market by none other than Zanu PF officials, a fact
the regime confirms. Even if we get good rains, we are still far from the
threat of famine. An MDC government shall attend to agriculture as a
national emergency in order to revive the economy, create jobs and place
food on the table. An MDC government shall honour the people's human right
to adequate food at all times. We pledge to resolve the land reform process
through justice and equity.

Let us remain focussed on goals. We
are winning at every stage of our struggle, as shown by the Friday verdict.
Once again, I wish to thank you all for your
support.

THE International Monetary
Fund (IMF) has called on Zimbabwe to reintegrate itself into the
international community to reclaim its credit worthiness and donor
support.

Speaking at the 2004 annual meeting of the World Bank
and the IMF, the deputy director for the African Department, Siddharth
Tiwari rejected reports that Zimbabwe was undergoing an economic renaissance
as repeatedly claimed by the government and by the Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono.

He said in the last four or five years, output had
declined by 30 percent and inflation was in the realm of 300 or 400 percent.
Zimbabwe's inflation rate however dropped by 62.9 percentage points to 251.5
percent in September down from 314.4 the previous month.

"There's clearly a need for policies to be adopted that are good for
Zimbabwe," said Tiwari.

He said the policies that the
government should adopt to reform the sweltering economy include structural
reforms, in particular the chaotic land policy that stripped citizens of
their property rights and displaced many productive
farmers.

"And without, broadly, these two sets of policies,
it's going to be very difficult to move ahead in Zimbabwe," he
said.

Tiwari said it was imperative that Zimbabwe reintegrated
itself into the international community to reclaim its creditworthiness and
donor support.

"It's a two way street. Zimbabwe needs to
move and the donors would need to move," he said.

In July,
media reports saw Gono and President Robert Mugabe jointly claiming that
economic recovery efforts were bearing fruits.

"This fifth
session takes place at a time of an ongoing socio-economic turnaround, a
time of brighter prospects for our country. What enhances this overall
national food security is the evident revival of our economy," said Mugabe
in an address to Parliament.

In turn, Gono boasted that his
monetary policy measures were working as evidenced by the deceleration in
annual inflation currently measured at 314 percent from a high of 622
percent in January.

Gono recently headed a high-powered
delegation drawn from key economic sectors that was in Washington to try and
charm the Bretton Woods institution to unblock aid.

The
delegation included representatives from the financial services sector,
tourism, mining and the Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe, among
others.

Government critics say the appeal is an exercise in
futility as the Bretton Woods institution has already made a decision to
shut down its Harare office at the end of this month.

In
December the fund's executive board meets to finally decide on the
recommendation to expel Zimbabwe from the 184-member fund.

HARARE - Police beat up and
left for dead Philani Zamchiya, the president of the Zimbabwe National
Students Union (ZINASU) last Thursday.

Zamchiya is battling for
his life at a private hospital in Harare.

The Zinasu president
was accused by the police of organising street demonstrations against the
government of President Robert Mugabe ahead of the delivery of the judgment
in the high treason case involving the president of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zamchiya had
bruises all over his body when The Daily News Online visited him at the
private hospital.

Attempts to talk to him were fruitless as he
battled even to move his jaws. His face was severely bruised and he had
calipers holding his neck in place.

Itayi Zimunya, the
former vice-president of ZINASU confirmed the beating and said they were
monitoring his condition on a daily basis.

He said the police
bundled him into their vehicle and severely assaulted him until he
collapsed.

"They accused him of planning massive street
demonstrations in solidarity with Tsvangirai at the High Court," Zimunya
said. "Zamchiya was only taken to hospital by a good Samaritan lady who
found him lying unconscious on the street. That demonstrates how the
government treats its opponents."

The police also assaulted
Gladys Hlatshwayo, the secretary general of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ)
Students Union.

Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman could
not be reached for comment. His office said he was out on business.

Oct 19, 2004 (BBC
Monitoring via COMTEX) -- Interdenominational prayers which a group of NGOs
organized in Blantyre last Saturday [16 October] to seek divine intervention
against an amended NGO bill in Zimbabwe failed to take place following
President Bingu wa Mutharika's last minute decision which led to police
barring entry to the BAT [British American Tobacco] ground scheduled, venue
of the prayers. Mutharika is meeting 10 NGO leaders this morning to
ask them not to hold any prayers or demonstrations for fear of destabilizing
Malawi's relations with Zimbabwe. One of the organizers of the prayers Rafiq
Hajat said he was summoned to the office of the commissioner of police
(South) together with another organizer Emmie Chanika where they were told
to cancel the prayers until they meet the president. "But while we were
locked up in the meeting which lasted for 90 minutes, a group of police
officers were deployed to the BAT ground to stop the prayers," said Hajat.
He said although the police convened a meeting with the NGO leaders, they
had already decided to stop the meeting. "It was already a forgone
conclusion and not negotiable and the meeting was a cynical ruse to keep the
main organizers occupied while their support systems were being quietly
dismantled in the background," said Hajat. He said Malawi is still a police
state which is "under polite democratic camouflage". Human Rights
Consultative Committee (CHRR) national coordinator Rodgers Newa confirmed
that 10 NGO leaders will meet Mutharika at 10 a.m. Monday [18 October].
[Passage omitted] Source: The Nation web site, Blantyre, in
English 19 Oct 04 BBC Mon AF1 AFEau 191004/

Six months after Heath Streak first threatened to
resign as Zimbabwe captain, a line has finally been drawn under the whole
sorry saga.

According to the findings of the Inquiry into Racism in
Zimbabwe, released over the weekend and conducted by the International
Cricket Council, Streak was guilty of issuing an "unfortunate" and
"miscalculated" ultimatum to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. The ZCU, in turn,
have been cleared of all charges.

That, at least, has been the headline
news from the ICC over the last couple of days. But nothing is ever so
simple where Zimbabwe's moral maze is concerned.

The admirably lucid
15,000-word report makes for fascinating reading if you have been following
the Streak affair. Skip to the bottom, and you will find the judges' first
and most widely circulated conclusion: "We do not find any evidence of
racism within Zimbabwe Cricket." Yet the rest of their findings actually
serve as a vindication of Streak's original grievances.

Streak sent his
ultimatum to Vince Hogg, the ZCU's managing director, on March 24. He had
three main beefs, which he had been pressing Hogg to deal with for months:
(a) that the selection of the team was a shambles, (b) that the players
needed a union, and (c) that certain ZCU directors were wielding an awful
lot of power without reference to either Hogg or ZCU chairman Peter
Chingoka.

Two of these concerns are taken up in the inquiry's
recommendations: "There must be broad based selection . Competent selectors
[should be] appointed . the ZCU should take steps to set up a players'
association."

And while the report does not specifically address Streak's
third point, it does suggest that Chingoka should try "to rein in younger
and more enthusiastic people and control their aggressiveness". This is
clearly a reference to Ozias Bvute, the ZCU director who is believed by many
in Zimbabwe to have close links with Robert Mugabe's ruling party Zanu
PF.

Streak, we can only conclude, was close to the mark. Which makes it
all the more unfortunate that he and the other players have had to sacrifice
their international careers to make their point. So here we come to the
crux: if the players were in the right, how come the ICC have found so
decisively in favour of the ZCU?

The answer is that Streak and
company have made some king-sized howlers. Their biggest was allowing this
debate to slide into the arena of racial politics.

Yes, Bvute's
attitude was provocative, at one point the ZCU lawyer virtually concedes the
players' allegation that he threatened to dig up the pitch if a particular
Zimbabwe team did not include five blacks. But his attitude is just one
aspect of general mismanagement within the ZCU, who would have been
vulnerable on other fronts.

It should have been obvious to the white
players that they were picking the worst possible battleground to fight
their case on. Their former domination of Zimbabwe's cricket team was
totally disproportionate, given that the country's population is over 99 per
cent black and Asian. Counter-allegations were inevitable, such as the claim
- featured in the report - that on last winter's tour of Australia the team
travelled in separate buses for whites and blacks.

The fact that the
hearings were held in Harare made life especially difficult for witnesses
such as the journalist Mehluli Sibanda, who claimed he had been threatened
for siding with a white man. Sibanda had to be smuggled into the hearings,
as he clearly feared further reprisals for this breach of black
solidarity.

If Bvute is one of the report's villains, another is the
players' lawyer, Chris Venturas. His tactics during the original dispute
prevented any rapprochement between the players and the ZCU's more
reasonable elements. Later, during the hearings, the two judges admit to
feeling "embarrassed" while watching him squabble with his opposite number
Norman Arendse.

Streak should draw some comfort from the light this
report has shone into the ZCU's dark and squalid corners. But if the players
had wanted something concrete to take away, they - and their lawyer - needed
to be cannier. As John Kerry might say, this was the wrong inquiry, held in
the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Zimbabwe's rebels
are pinning their hopes on Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the
Professional Cricketers' Association, the England players' union, as a last
resort in their battle with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.Bevan is in Zimbabwe
with John Carr, the England and Wales Cricket Board director of operations,
to assess security for England's tour there next month.

The rebels'
cause was dealt a significant blow at the weekend when the game's ruling
body, the International Cricket Council, decided that the ZCU was not guilty
of racism, which was the basis of the rebels' argument.

The finding,
which followed a constrained ICC investigation that was hampered by
blustering lawyers on both sides, cleared the ZCU to continue its business
as usual.

That means the slight chance the rebels had of resuming the
cricket careers they interrupted, when they railed against what they
considered discriminatory policies and inappropriate conduct by ZCU
officials, is almost certainly gone.

"I don't really know where we go
from here," Stuart Carlisle, one of the rebels, said yesterday. "We probably
could still go to arbitration but there's almost no point in that.

"I
think we should have a chat with Bevan in the next day or two and see if
there is a way forward for us."

It might well fall to Bevan to tell
the rebels to pack their kit for good.

In fact, they already seem to be
doing so. The rebels once numbered 15, but they have dwindled to "myself,
Trevor Gripper and Heath Streak", Carlisle said. Most of the rest are
"getting on with their lives".

Doug Marillier is playing league cricket
and selling property for a living. He remains unavailable for national
selection, but an erroneous or mischievous newspaper report that said he had
returned to the ZCU fold cost him money recently - a prospective client was
no longer interested in dealing with him if he had broken ranks with the
rebels.Carlisle holds a degree in marketing from a South African university,
and is considering joining a promotions company in Harare. Gripper is
selling electrolyte water.

Carlisle said the rebels were
"disappointed but not surprised" at the ICC's decision. "The ICC has sat on
the fence in the past few months, and in the past few years on other
issues," he said. "They've swept the problem under the carpet. They think
it's going to go away, but it won't.

"There's racism all over the world,
and the fact that you can categorically state that there is no racism in
Zimbabwe cricket is a joke."

The ICC finding also means the inexperienced
Zimbabwe team that has lost all 13 of its one-day internationals is in line
for further strife, particularly when it returns to Test cricket next
year.

"The ZCU might have won the battle, but they've lost the war for
cricket," Carlisle said. "Zimbabwe cricket is the loser."

Although an
ICC panel decided the ZCU was not practising racism, its recommendations to
remedy a clearly desperate situation leaned markedly towards the rebels'
positions. If the ZCU takes them seriously, Carlisle and his men may yet be
hailed as victorious.

HARARE, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) --
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday advised the ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) Members of Parliament to
campaign for the 2005 parliamentary elections.

Speaking
during a ZANU-PF parliamentary caucus meeting held at the party headquarters
in Harare, the President said the ZANU-PF MPs would "have themselves to
blame," if they lost in the elections as there was "much to talk about which
the government had done to lift the standards of living of the
people."

Mugabe also advised the MPs to visit their
constituencies, in order to win party primary and the election, saying
there's need for aspiring candidates to devise tactics to win the elections,
particularly in urban areas.

Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum tojustice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------JAG
OLF
303---------------------------------------------------------------------------THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must
haveperseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that
weare gifted for something and that this thing must be
attained." --- Marie
Curie______________________________________________

OPEN LETTER
FORUM

Letter 1. Subject: In Memory of Dave

Dear Family and
Friends,

By all accounts Friday the 15th of October looked like it was
going to bean historic day for Zimbabwe. From as early as 7am radio news
bulletinswere heightening the tension and ratcheting up the fear factor
withwarnings from the police that unruly behaviour would not be tolerated.
Thiswas the day the verdict would finally be handed down in the treason
trialagainst opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The headlines on one
newspaperwere: "Police put on high alert" and the atmosphere was tense with
reportsof roadblocks throughout Harare and police standing in pairs or
groups atevery intersection in the capital city.

When the not guilty
verdict was handed down just before midday, there was anational, audible
sigh of relief. Talking to the press after the acquittal,Morgan Tsvangirai
said the verdict was unexpected and came as a relief.These were words that
were echoed by us all. Although no one could see howany court would find
Tsvangirai guilty with the evidence the way it was, wedon't take anything
for granted in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai voiced all ourthoughts when he said that
we were all hoping for the best and preparingfor the worst. The opposition
leader also said that the verdict signaled a"good basis for national
reconciliation," and I hope and pray that he isright.

In the four and
half years that Zanu PF has been turning itself inside outin order to stay
in power, almost everything has reached the point ofcomplete collapse and
ruin. We have crumbling health and education systems,collapsing banks,
crippling inflation; massively high unemployment and alife expectancy which
has plummeted to just 34 years. We have very dubiousfood security and
complete and utter chaos on our farms with resettledpeople continuing to be
thrown off land even now when the rains havestarted and everyone should be
planting.

Perhaps now that Morgan Tsvangirai has been formally acquitted,
regionaland international leaders will put pressure on the Zimbabwean
government tohold free and fair elections in March next year - without them
not a thingcan or will change in Zimbabwe.

I end this week with a
message of condolence to the families and friends ofthe Zimbabweans who were
so tragically killed in the air crash in Canada afew days ago. Happy times
from years gone by will never be forgotten and Iwrite this letter today in
memory of Dave Lamb. Until next week, with love,cathy
______________________________________________

Letter 2. Subject:
JAG Open Letter Forum 15th October 2004

Letter 4a. Subject: Farm
Labour

It really "pee's" me off when I read a letter like the one sent in
byGideon Mostert. Where has he been for the last four and a half years
andwhy has it taken him so long to write in ? Has he ever heard
aboutadvertising? Does he know how many willing workers he needs? Does he
haveadequate accommodation to house the thousands who will be willing to
work?I'd strongly suggest that he talks to the powers that be, possibly
anorganisation like zanuPF, to provide free transport to Chipinge. In
themeantime, congrats to JAG, keep up your excellent work for the people
youare serving so well.

I also read the letter from Eddie Cross
and thought it was very inspiring -it was a sentimental letter, rather
painful as we left Zimbabwe exactly ayear ago and his letter brought back
traumatic memories. Looking back, Ionly remember the good things about Zim.
Whatever my family and I missabout Zimbabwe has nothing to do with politics
and economics. However, thepolitics and economics of the country we live in
today have allowed us tosleep at night in peace and quiet, to save for that
lovely holiday and tofinally plan for the future again. It's great to buy
bread and milk todaythat cost the same a year ago. Life carries on. Best
regards,

Johanna
SchermulyUK_______________________________________________

Letter
4. Subject: JAG Open Letter Forum 15th October 2004 OLF 302

Dear Linda
Costa

The letter written by Mr Cross was beautiful accept it for that, we
needbeauty wherever we are, whatever we are doing and especially if we are
infear.

Regards

Helen
Clarke

---------------------------------------------------------------------------All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinionsof the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justicefor
Agriculture.---------------------------------------------------------------------------